Update: I was unfortunately not aware of Shamus Young's severe criticism of Fallout 3 available here to link in the original piece and I regret that. It dovetails rather nicely with what I've written and it's much better executed than my piece. I strongly recommend anyone...

HomeNews Father of Video Games Loves Their Success; Hates Violent Games

GAMING NEWS

Father of Video Games Loves Their Success; Hates Violent Games

Ralph Baer, known as the "Father of video games", is now 89, still sharp, and still opinionated about the industry that he helped spawn when he created the Magnavox Odyssey way back in '72. That granddaddy of consoles is now almost 40 years old itself, and look how far we've come.

For the most part, Baer is thrilled about how gaming took off. In an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Bear said "It was unforeseeable; it was fantastic. I’m glad it happened. And if I hadn’t had started it, someone else would have."

But that's not all he had to say. When asked about violent video games in particular, he went as far as to call them an abomination. "I think it’s a disgrace...What I created got abominated. You can see the same thing in music, literature, art — any form of art."

Given that he feels the same the way about violence in other mediums, it seems less like he's upset with violent games in particular, and more that he still has a bit of crotchety old man in him, despite being a pretty groovy guy with a soft spot for gaming.